Outside the Beltway

Thinking out loud, as one does.

Appointing unqualified loyalists is only the start.

And yes, Trump fits the definitions all too well.

Explaining the inexplicable.

A bill in Alabama would bar Chinese nationals from buying property in the state.

The Pope is siding with evil.

As memory of the Cold War fades, so does support for American primacy.

Ezra Klein has some thought on the Republican Party.

He’s using a tool he denounced as cruel to deal with a humanitarian crisis.

The last Soviet leader is gone at 91.

A group of extremists are stopped from instigating a riot.

A trailblazing diplomat has died at 84.

We can only hope.

Strikes near the Polish border show the real possibility of escalation.

The great conservative humorist is gone at 74.

The Biden admin is about to take a demilitarized group off the terrorist list and some people aren’t happy about it.

A depressing magazine piece argues it is.

He was both the youngest and oldest man to run the Pentagon.

Or, you know, not.

A really weird proposal to solve a problem that probably doesn’t exist.

Some reflections

David Brooks is the leader in the clubhouse.

Biden’s America is a place and idea in which the trappings of empire or glory are ephemera in comparison with perennial human relationships—families; friendships; communities; schools; neighbors; partners.

The National Security Advisor to Presidents Ford and GHW Bush has died.

The state of American debate is not strong.

Speaking of xenophobia.

An amusing discovery.

Contrary to the hopes of some, getting rid of Trump isn’t going to purge the GOP of Trumpism.

While the American media was paying attention to President travels and travails in Europe, there was another meeting taking place.

Measles cases in the United States are surging thanks to the lies spread by the anti-vaccination movement.

And if you don’t know, now you know.

The end of racism may have been prematurely declared.

George H.W. Bush,, who served his nation as a warrior, Congressman, Ambassador, Vice-President, and President, has died at the age of 94.

An essay from earlier in the year by Jacob T. Levy underscores some of the points I recently tried to make about democratic norms in the current era.

Elliot Cohen laments the lack of steel in the spine of the statesmen, diplomats, soldiers, and thinkers of the current generation.

South Korea has elected a new President who breaks with his impeached predecessor in favoring dialogue with the North.

One of the Cold War era’s last dictators has finally died.

To the surprise of many, Russia’s President announced that Russia would begin winding down its six month old intervention in Syria.

Trump is doing the opposite of trying to calm things down.

Nancy Reagan was a crucial part what made Ronald Reagan the man he was, and today she passed away at the age of 94.

Some analysts are already suggesting that Russia’s two month old intervention in Syria is becoming a quagmire. That seems to be a premature judgment, but it’s not accomplishing much more than anything the West is doing.

Republicans insist that uttering the words “Radical Islamic Terrorism” is somehow important in the fight against ISIS and other terror networks, but it is entirely unclear what doing so would accomplish.

The Confederate Flag needs to be removed from official places of honor, but do we really need to worry about reruns of The Dukes of Hazzard?

I have been reading, mostly in passing, a number of pieces about an alleged new climate on college campuses in which students are raising significant complaints due to difficult or emotionally sensitive material. The latest example did not impress me.

Two potential candidates for the Republican nomination in 2016 traded barbs this week over the President’s new policy toward Cuba.

A disappointing setback.